Truck hauling animal parts prompts evacuation of Butler business

July 27, 2016Digital Media Exclusive

A fender bender on Main Street caused quite a stink for the employees inside Butler County Ford.

The truck was hauling animal parts leftover from grocery stores to a recycling facility.

The load was uncovered, and it was hot outside.

“It was disgusting,” said Gino Sabruno, manager at Butler County Ford.

“We had to evacuate the second and third floors.”

Just after 2 p.m. Tuesday, Sabruno said coworkers started complaining about a strange odor. A look out the window and the source of the smell was obvious: a large truck stopped at Main and Wayne, in the business’ loading zone. From the business, the workers could see the uncovered load in the truck.

“It was full of animal remains,” said Sabruno, who took photos of the truck’s contents.

Sabruno said he noticed that the truck and a car appeared to have been in a fender bender collision at Main and Wayne streets.

Sabruno said he asked the truck’s driver to move the truck away from the Butler County Ford building. But the driver responded that he couldn’t move until he exchanged information with the driver of the other vehicle.

Sabruno said he called 911, and city police responded.

In all, the truck was outside the business for about an hour, Sabruno said. During that time, about five employees in the detailing and body shop repairs departments were evacuated.

“It was humid, the air was heavy and it just kind of lingered,” Sabruno said. “Fortunately, it wasn’t in our showroom.”

According to the logo on the side of the truck, it is owned by Dar Pro Solutions, also known as Darlington Ingredients.

In response to an inquiry, Melissa A. Gaither, VP Investor Relations and Global Communications of the Texas-based company, issued the following statement: “Darling Ingredients takes the community concerns very seriously. Darling management is looking into the odor complaint and will work to mitigate any future issues. This service truck preforms an important waste removal service to the community and transforms residual meat by-products and expired meats from the grocery industry into use able feed and fuel ingredients acting as a critical control point for the food industry.

“Keeping highly degradable products out of the landfill and upcycling them into valuable ingredients is the nature of Darling’s business.

“Darling Ingredients Inc. is the world’s largest publicly-traded developer and producer of sustainable natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients, creating a wide range of ingredients and specialty products for customers in the pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, technical, fuel, bioenergy, and fertilizer industries.